10 Research-Tested Ways to Build Childrens Vocabulary

by

Nell K. Duke Annie M. Moses

ach year the International Reading Association surveys literacy leaders from around the world regarding whats hot and whats not in literacy (e.g., Cassidy and Cassidy, 2001/2002; 2002/2003). Year after year vocabulary has

been rated not hot. Yet over 75% of those surveyed think it should be hot (ibid.). We agree, and the fact that you are reading this means that you probably do, too. Research suggests that vocabulary is enormously important to childrens development, especially in reading. Research clearly indicates that children with larger vocabularies have higher school achievement in general (Smith, 1941, cited in Beck, McKeown, and Kucan, 2002) and higher reading achievement in particular (Anderson and Freebody, 1981; Graves, 1986; Stahl, 1998). In fact, people with larger vocabularies even have higher IQs (Bell, Lassiter, Matthews, and Hutchinson, 2001; Hodapp, and Gerken, 1999)! Fortunately, a childs vocabulary is not predestined. Rather, teachers can have a real impact on childrens vocabulary knowledge. Research shows that teachers can do things that significantly increase childrens vocabularies (Baumann, Kameenui, and Ash, 2003; Blachowicz and Fisher, 2000; National Reading Panel, 2000; Stahl and Fairbanks, 1986), and by doing so childrens reading comprehension will also improve (National Reading Panel, 2000; Stahl, 1998).

There are many research-tested ways that teachers can improve childrens vocabulary knowledge. Here are 10 that seem especially important for teachers of young children: RESEARCH EVIDENCE READ TO THEM
Studies indicate that children do learn words from books read aloud to them (e.g., Elley, 1989). Most helpful will be reading aloud books and other materials (such as magazines or environmental print) that have some, but not too many, words that are new to children. Read-aloud of storybooks is important, but also important is read-aloud of other types of text, such as information books (Duke, 2003; Pappas, 1991). Some research even suggests that teachers and parents highlight vocabulary more when reading aloud information books than when reading aloud stories (Lennox, 1995; Pellegrini, Perlmutter, Galda, and Brody, 1990). The ReadingLine Vocabulary Kit
offers fiction and nonfiction Little Books that inspire discussion and present new vocabulary.

READINGLINE SUPPORT*

GET THEM READING

Children also learn new words through reading independently. Researchers estimate that 515% of all the words we learn we learn from reading (e.g., Nagy, Herman, and Anderson, 1985). And indeed, children who read more tend to have richer vocabularies (Stahl, 1998). So when we engage students in motivational activities to encourage reading, we are simultaneously improving their vocabularies. The ReadingLine Vocabulary Kit centers
on Little Books that children read using sight words and patterns. The books present engaging fiction and nonfiction text that feature important concepts and vocabulary. The imaginative illustrations further encourage exploration and discussion, prompting children to read more.

* ReadingLine Support is the work of Scholastic Editors. The examples and implications therein are based on but do not represent the work of Nell Duke or her colleagues.

RESEARCH EVIDENCE

READINGLINE SUPPORT

ENGAGE CHILDREN IN RICH ORAL LANGUAGE

Children also learn words through talk, expecially from listening to and participating in high-level conversations. For example, one study showed that young children whose parents use more rare words at the dinner table had higher vocabularies and later reading achievement than other children (e.g., Beals, 1997). In school we need to involve children in rich, meaningful conversations whenever we can.
Each ReadingLine Vocabulary Kit lesson plan features discussion ideas, questions and oral language exercises designed to expand childrens vocabulary while addressing issues and content brought up by the books. Manipulatives such as the Oral Language Cards help children to increase their content-related vocabulary.

ENCOURAGE READING AND TALK AT HOME

As the rare words study suggests, children can also develop their vocabularies at home. Encouraging reading and conversations outside of school, for example by sending home books and interactive activities, can have positive effects (e.g., Koskinen, Blum, Bisson, Phillips, Creamer, and Baker, 2000). Even viewing certain television programs, most notably Sesame Street, has been shown to improve young childrens vocabularies (Rice, Huston, Truglio, and Wright, 1990; Rice and Woodsmall, 1984).
The ReadingLine Vocabulary Kit includes Take Home versions of the Little Books that come with a family letter that includes activity and discussion ideas.

RESEARCH EVIDENCE RAISE WORD CONSCIOUSNESS

We want children to notice when they encounter new words and to want to learn them. Some researchers refer to this as word consciousness (Graves and Watts-Taffe, 2002). There are many ways to draw childrens attention to and interest in words around them. Playing with words through games, songs, and humor can be powerful. Simply encouraging children to recognize when they have encountered new words, and to notice special characteristics of words, will also raise word consciousness (e.g., Beck, Perfetti, and McKeown, 1982).

READINGLINE SUPPORT

The ReadingLine Vocabulary Kit features classic rhymes, songs, and fingerplays that offer new language experiences so children become aware of new words. Oral Language Picture Cards are included to improve knowledge of content-related vocabulary.

TEACH IMPORTANT WORDS

Yes, we can teach children new words (Baumann, Kameenui, and Ash, 2003; Blachowicz and Fisher, 2000; National Reading Panel, 2000; Stahl and Fairbanks, 1986). But time and other factors mean there are limits to how many new words we can teach. For this reason, it is important to select words for teaching very carefully. Factors to consider include how important and useful knowledge of the word would be, how easily relatable the word is to other words the children know, and how much knowing the word will help with the unit, text, or situation at hand (Beck, McKeown, and Kucan, 2002).
The ReadingLine Vocabulary includes words in key knowledge areassuch as animals, tools, occupationsthat help children to better understand the world around them. Words were also chosen that would help children better express their thoughts and ideas and their ability to work with language.

RESEARCH EVIDENCE

READINGLINE SUPPORT

TEACH CONCEPTUALLY-RELATED WORDS

It often makes sense to teach words not individually but in sets that are conceptually-related, for example words related to farms, words related to families, or names of different animals. Indeed, several research-tested techniques for teaching vocabulary are well suited to teaching groups of words (see, e.g., Rupley, Logan, and Nichols, 1998/1999).
In the ReadingLine Vocabulary Kit, vocabulary words are taught by topic and concept. The topics are derived from the books and are addressed in discussions and oral language activities throughout the week. Some concept areas covered include: family words, action words, colors, household objects, occupations, animals, and position words. In the ReadingLine Vocabulary Kit, vocabulary is taught in meaning-based groups such as action words, feelings words, fruits and vegetablesso that children can relate the similar words.

RELATE NEW WORDS TO KNOWN WORDS

Theory and research on vocabulary learning suggest that helping children relate new words to words they already know is very important (see citations throughout). For example, if a child knows the word fruit, and knows the word apple, these words can help children learn the word kiwi. If a child knows what it means to be mad, that may help him learn frustrated. Teaching children to use the context around a word to try to figure out word meanings can also be effective. (Kuhn and Stahl, 1998).

RESEARCH EVIDENCE
EXPOSE CHILDREN TO WORDS MULTIPLE TIMES IN MULTIPLE MEANINGFUL CONTEXTS
Clearly, knowledge of a word is likely to be stronger after three encounters than after just one, and more thorough after encounters in multiple contexts than just one (Nagy and Scott, 2000). Successful vocabulary programs have children encountering words repeatedly and diversely (e.g., McKeown, Beck, Omanson, and Perfetti, 1983). As you well know, simply hearing or reading a dictionary definition for a word does not do enough to help children get it, nor does basic drill and practice. Rather, children need to encounter words in meaningful activities, conversations, and texts. Children need to live new words.

READINGLINE SUPPORT

With the ReadingLine Vocabulary Kit, children have an opportunity to work with both the sight words and the oral language vocabulary in many contexts. The sight words presented are reviewed in subsequent books so that children receive multiple exposures. The oral language vocabulary is used in different contexts throughout the weekly lesson plan: in songs and fingerplays, book discussions, oral language exercises, and projects.

ENJOY WORDS
There has not been a lot of research on the relationship between motivation and vocabulary learning, but success ful vocabulary programs seem to have motivational ele ments (e.g., McKeown, Beck, Omanson, and Perfetti, 1983), and motivation or interest is a part of word con sciousness (Graves and Watts-Taffe, 2002). Certainly in our own teaching we have noticed that when children were more motivated to learn new words, they did so more readily, and we would guess that you have noticed this, too. We should strive to have classrooms in which words are enjoyed, relished, celebrated, even loved. Congratulations for all that you do to make that happen.
The ReadingLine Vocabulary Kit is full of fun and engaging language-building activities; including songs and fingerplays, games and projects. The Little Books feature imaginative illustrations and texts that encourage exploration and discussion.

REFERENCES
Anderson, R. C. and Freebody, P. (1981). Vocabulary knowledge. In J. T. Guthrie (Ed.), Comprehension and teaching: Research reviews (pp. 77117). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Baumann, J. F., Kameenui, E. J., and Ash, G. E. (2003). Research on vocabulary instruction: Voltaire redux. In J. Flood, D. Lapp, J. R. Squire, and J. M. Jensen (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Teaching the English Language Arts, Second Edition (pp. 752785). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Beals, D. (1997). Sources of support for learning words in conversation: Evidence from mealtimes. Journal of Child Language, 24, 673694. Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., and Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction. New York: Guilford. Bell, N. L., Lassiter, K. S., Matthews, T. D., and Hutchinson, M. B. (2001). Comparison of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test Third Edition and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Third Edition, with university students. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 57, 417422. Blachowicz, C. L. Z., and Fisher, P. (2000). Vocabulary instruction. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research, Volume III (503523). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Cassidy, J., and Cassidy, D. (2001/2002). Whats hot, whats not for 2002. Reading Today, 19(3), 1, 18. Cassidy, J., and Cassidy, D. (2002/2003). Whats hot, whats not for 2003. Reading Today, 20(3), 1, 18. Duke, N. K. (2003). Reading to learn from the very beginning: Information books in early childhood. Young Children, 58(2), 1420. Elley, W. B. (1989). Vocabulary acquisition from listening to stories. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 174187. Graves, M. F. (1986). Vocabulary learning and instruction. Review of Research in Education, 13, 4991. Graves, M. F., and Watts-Taffe, S. M. (2002). The place of word consciousness in a research-based vocabulary program. In A. E. Farstrup and S. J. Samuels (Eds.), What Research Has to Say about Reading Instruction (pp. 140165). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Hodapp, A. F., and Gerken, K. C. (1999). Correlations between scores for Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III. Psychological Reports, 84, 11391142. Kuhn, M. R., and Stahl, S. A. (1998). Teaching children to learn word meanings from context: A synthesis and some questions. Journal of Literacy Research, 30, 119138. Lennox, S. (1995). Sharing books with children. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 20, 1216.

REFERENCES continued
McKeown, M. G., Beck I. L., Omanson, R., and Perfetti, C. A. (1983). The effects of long-term vocabulary instruction on reading comprehension: A replication. Journal of Reading Behavior, 15, 318. Nagy, W. E., Herman, P., and Anderson, R. (1987). Learning word meanings from context during normal reading. American Educational Research Journal, 24, 237270. Nagy, W. E., and Scott, J. A. (2000). Vocabulary processes. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, and R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research, Volume III (269284). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups. Washington DC: National Institute of Child Health and Development. Pappas, C. C. (1991). Fostering full access to literacy by including information books. Language Arts, 68, 449462. Pelligrini, A. D., Perlmutter, J. C., Galda, L., and Brody, G. H. (1990). Joint reading between Black Head Start children and their mothers. Child Development, 61, 443453. Rice, M. L., Huston, A. C., Truglio, R., and Wright, J. (1990). Words from Sesame Street: Learning vocabulary while viewing television. Developmental Psychology, 26, 421428. Rice, M. L., and Woodsmall, L. (1984). Lessons from television: Children; word learning when viewing. Child Development, 59, 420429. Rupley, W. H., Logan, J. W., and Nichols, W. D. (1998/1999). Vocabulary instruction in a balanced reading program. The Reading Teacher, 52, 336346. Smith, M. K. (1941). Measurement of the size of general English vocabulary through the elementary grades and high school. Genetic Psychological Monographs, 24, 311345. Stahl, S. A. (1998). Four questions about vocabulary knowledge and reading and some answers. In C. Hynd (Ed.), Learning from Text Across Conceptual Domains (pp. 1544). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Stahl, S. A., and Fairbanks, M. M. (1986). The effects of vocabulary instruction: A model-based meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 56, 72110.

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Nell Duke is an Associate Professor of Teacher Education, Learning,

Technology, and Culture at Michigan State University, and Director of the Early Literacy Project. Dr. Duke is the co-author of Reading & Writing Informational Text in the Primary Grades: Research-Based Practices.

Annie Moses is a doctoral student in Learning, Technology and Culture at Michigan State University and has worked on the Early Literacy Project. Her particular expertise lies in early literacy development.

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